MaryAnn Bradley was expecting to hear that she had heart problems when her cardiologist revealed that an X-ray had revealed a shadow on her right lung.
“I simply believed that I would die. It was that,” she declared.
The 68-year-old Bradley had been pressuring medical professionals to investigate the source of a constant ache on the left side of her neck.
Knowing she had stage 1 lung cancer was “completely devastated” for the St. Catharines, Ontario woman, especially since her father had passed away from the same illness years before.
A thoracic surgeon excised the malignancy a few weeks later.
Bradley said that “everything went fantastically well.”
She hasn’t had cancer for ten years, but she still gets CT scans to make sure the disease is detected as soon as it recurs.
“I had a great recovery and I’ve never looked back,” Bradley said. He now works with Lung Cancer Canada as a peer mentor for others who receive a lung cancer diagnosis and promotes early detection of the disease.
More lung cancer patients are surviving, just like Bradley, according to an annual study on cancer statistics that was made public on Wednesday.
According to Canadian Cancer Statistics 2023, which is produced by the Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee in collaboration with Statistics Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, and Statistics Canada, lung cancer death rates are falling more quickly than those of any other cancer in this nation.
According to the research, the annual incidence of mortality from lung cancer has dropped for both genders: 4.3% for males and 4.1% for females since 2014.
“This finding, in my opinion, really highlights the progress that has been made in reducing the incidence of lung cancer through commercial tobacco control,” stated Jennifer Gillis, a senior manager of surveillance at the Canadian Cancer Society and an epidemiologist in Vancouver.
Roughly 72% of lung cancer fatalities are caused by smoking tobacco, according to the Cancer Society.
According to Statistics Canada, 11.8% of Canadians aged 12 and older smoked as of 2021.
By 2035, the Canadian Cancer Society hopes to have reduced smoking to 5% of the population, which they believe might avert over 50,000 cancer cases.
According to the report, radon gas, asbestos, and air pollution are other risk factors that can raise a person’s risk of developing lung cancer.
According to the paper, more investigation is required to ascertain the long-term consequences of the chemicals found in e-cigarettes and vaping.
According to Gillis, the data not only shows a decrease in smoking rates but also breakthroughs in early screening and treatment choices.
“We’re really improving outcomes for people who have been diagnosed and are affected by lung cancer,” she stated.
Notwithstanding the advancements, the research stated that lung cancer continues to be the primary cause of cancer mortality in Canada, accounting for approximately one out of every four cancer-related deaths.
According to the report, lung cancer will claim the lives of 20,600 Canadians in 2023.
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